


My Flower

by ThisWorldInverted



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Friends to Lovers, Library, Love Confessions, Red Beauty - Freeform, Season 2, The Little Prince - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-27
Updated: 2018-09-27
Packaged: 2019-07-18 02:44:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16109156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThisWorldInverted/pseuds/ThisWorldInverted
Summary: "True love begins when nothing is looked for in return." -The Little PrinceORBelle and Ruby love confession oneshot set in season 2, because the world needs more Red Beauty.





	My Flower

**Author's Note:**

> Just a quick timeline note: This story takes place sometime after 2x07, when Belle is working at the library. <3

If there was one thing that Belle knew, it was that Ruby Lucas was an absolute godsend. She was the one who had offered her a room at Granny’s, and helped her get the job at the library. She spent most of her time there now, there was even an apartment in the back where she now lived. But still, she never spent long away from her wolfish best friend. In fact, the reason that Belle was so certain that she was something sent straight from heaven, was that she’d taken to bringing Belle lunch at the library, nearly every day. 

She didn’t expect days at the library to be so busy, but once the library opened it was clear that the people of Storybrooke shared her love of books. That thrilled her, of course, but it meant that she almost never had the free time to go out for lunch. It was Tuesday, which was usually one of the quieter days, but there were still enough people in the library to stop her from going out, and she had a feeling Ruby would show up sooner or later. 

The former half of that intuition turned out to be quite true, as Ruby walked into the library just as the clock on the wall struck 12:30, basket in hand. Wordlessly, she pulled up a chair next to Belle’s desk, and set down the basket. “So,” she asked, “how’s my favourite bookworm?”

Belle smiled. “Well, I’m surrounded by books, so I’d say I’m doing pretty good.” She gestured to the shelves around her, and then to the book she’d been reading, before setting down the paperback. “What’s for lunch?”

Ruby opened the basket, placing its contents on the desk one by one. “Let’s see, we’ve got tuna sandwiches, clementines, and some of Granny’s homemade strawberry pie, because she’s refused to make apple since the curse was lifted.”

Belle couldn’t help but laugh at that, and Ruby couldn’t help but notice how her blue eyes sparkled as she did. “Dessert first?” she asked, although she didn’t need to. Neither of them really knew why, but over the past couple of weeks they’d settled into a pattern of always eating dessert first. It was kind of their thing. 

“You’ll never believe what Leroy did this morning,” Ruby said through a mouthful of pie, the red filling staining her lips the colour of her name.

“With everything that’s happened in the last few weeks, I really doubt that,” Belle laughed, thinking of her friend, who was every bit as unpredictable as he was grumpy. “But then again, it is Leroy, so you may be right. What did he do?”

Belle tried to concentrate on Ruby’s words as she launched into an elaborate description of how Leroy had scared a twelve year old girl half to death. She’d made the unfortunate mistake of sitting in his usual chair at Granny’s. But Belle’s mind wandered as her eyes traced the outline of her friend’s face. She’d always found Ruby beautiful of course, but lately things seemed to have changed between them.

It wasn’t a sudden change, but one that had crept up on her as she’d spent more time getting to know Ruby. Some of the people of Storybrooke feared her for what she was, but Belle never felt safer than when she was with Ruby. Others in town lusted after her for her beauty, but that wasn’t it either. It was something much deeper. When Belle was with Ruby, everything sort of clicked into place. 

With Ruby, Belle never felt like she had to be anything more than what she was, which was new for her. Growing up she’d tried to be a perfect daughter, and after that a perfect fiancee to Gaston. And then she’d tried to play the hero and go to Rumpelstiltskin’s castle, a decision she would never take back, but one that most certainly took its toll. It still was, with everything that had happened between her and Rumple after the curse was broken. But with Ruby, she never had to try. Their relationship felt so natural, so right.

So yes, Belle was fairly certain that she was falling in love with her best friend. But, she reasoned, could never feel the same, could she? Sure, Ruby liked girls, but Belle hardly thought it possible that someone so confident and stunningly beautiful could want to be with someone as shy and nerdy as her. 

Ruby was talking on autopilot, rambling on about her morning at the diner, but her mind was wandering, and for that a certain brunette bookworm was to blame. Everything about Belle was beautiful to her, from the way she bit her lower lip ever so slightly when she was focusing on something to how innocently unapologetic she was about the things she loved.

And oh, how Ruby longed to be someone that she loved. With her newly heightened senses, she could physically feel that something had changed between the two of them, though she didn’t dare acknowledge it. Belle never talked about it, but Ruby knew that Rumpelstiltskin had been visiting her at the library, undoubtedly trying to get her to come back to him. But she never did, and Ruby was proud of her friend for that. She deserved so much better than the Dark One, of all people. Of course, she deserved so much better than Ruby as well. 

After all, Ruby didn’t exactly have the best track record with relationships. She would never forget what happened with Peter, and she could never let it happen again. If that meant killing herself a little more every single day with the knowledge that she and Belle could never be together, that was just fine. As long as Belle was safe. 

Besides, wolf or no, Belle could never love her back. No, Ruby thought, she could never be good enough for someone as intelligent and brave and selfless as Belle. But she would try. She would always try.

It took Belle a few moments to realize that Ruby had finished her story, and also that the two of them had finished their lunch. Her mind had been so far elsewhere that she didn’t realize Ruby had packed up her basket and set it down on the floor next to her. 

She’d looked so beautiful like that, so lost in thought, that Ruby didn’t say a word until she sensed her friend float back down to earth. “You alright?” she asked, laughing slightly.

Belle could feel her cheeks start to flush. “Oh, yeah, it’s nothing,” she said quickly.

Ruby was unconvinced, but she let it go, instead reaching across Belle’s desk for the book she’d been reading. There were a few things about the book that she found odd. For starters, although the drawings on the cover seemed to be for a child, the book was far too big for a child. The title, which was written in large white cursive on the book’s dark blue cover, read Le Petit Prince. “You know,” Ruby commented, “sometimes I forget that you can read French.”

“It’s not like it’s my last name or anything,” Belle quipped, and Ruby laughed as she opened the book to where Belle’s bookmark was placed.

“What does it say?”

Belle smiled and took the book from Ruby before reading the page to her in English. Her voice was soft, and Ruby gazed at her intently as she read. “If someone loves a flower of which just one example exists among all the millions and millions of stars, that’s enough to make him happy when he looks at the stars. He tells himself, ‘My flower is up there somewhere…’ But if the sheep eats the flower, then for him it’s as if, suddenly, all the stars went out. And isn’t that important?”

Something about the way Belle read the words (and something about the way Ruby listened to them) left a tension hanging in the air between them once she’d finished reading. Neither of them said anything for what seemed like a long while, until finally Ruby cleared her throat and broke the silence. “What happens if, after that, a wolf comes along and eats the sheep?” she joked quietly.

“Oh, hush,” Belle chided, “you’re ruining the metaphor.”

Ruby laughed softly, leaning forward. “Then tell me, who’s your flower?”

Belle leaned in even closer to Ruby, and her next words were so quiet they were hardly words at all. “I think you know.”

Just like that, their lips crashed together, and in that moment neither one of them cared if that meant the whole world came crashing down with them, just as long as they had each other. When they finally pulled away from each other, Ruby was the first to speak.

“I think I do know.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too,” Ruby whispered, and no words could have ever been more true. “I really hate to say this, but I should be getting back to the diner. Granny will kill me if I don’t and we can’t have that, especially not today.”

“That’s true,” Belle sighed, reluctantly letting go of Ruby as she stood to leave. “I’ll see you after work?”

“Of course. Goodbye, Belle.” Ruby pressed a soft kiss to Belle’s forehead before starting to make her way to the door.

“Goodbye, ma fleur.”

**Author's Note:**

> Well, there it is, my first fic on here! A friend of mine gave me the idea for a love confession fic, and I was in a Red Beauty kind of mood. Hope you enjoyed it, and I'd love to hear any suggestions for stories you'd like me to write. I can't make any promises, but I'm always looking for new ideas.  
> Xoxo, Lily


End file.
